Category: Gadgets

One of the most happening gadget among the youth is a Hoverboard. You can see people speaking about it, tweeting about it or even making a post on Facebook. It is getting popular by the day and there are many websites that claim to give away these hover boards. Some of these websites are scam in the making(hint:hoverboard 360), you can read hoverboard 360 review here. Firstly, let us look into this phenomenon called Hoverboard.

What are hover boards?

Any 80s kid might have known about the movie series called Back to the Future. It became a cult classic which ushered in many other Sci-Fi movies. The movie was instrumental in popularizing the word Hoverboard. It is a skate board like board which had a levitating technology.

It was the personal transport board for teenagers in the film’s future. However, the Hoverboard of the day is in no way close to a levitating device. In fact it is an ordinary wheeled scooter which has a gyroscopic mechanism. The gyroscopic mechanism balances the Hoverboard and keeps it upright. In actual sense, the Hoverboard of today is not a Hoverboard and it is a misnomer.

It is a self-powered gyroscopic controlled scooter

It has a self-containing battery pack which can be recharged. This Lithium ion battery powers the vehicle. The gyroscopic controller is controlled by microprocessors and simple mechanical contraptions. Now a days you can buy cheap hoverboards online from websites like Halo Board, Floating Board, Hoverboards.sale and many others.

The popularity of Hoverboard

The market for Hoverboard is constantly growing and it is making inroads into new markets. Some of the identifiable reasons for the rising popularity is the fact that these personal scooters are used by many celebrities. People in fashion and music industry have been spotted with these scooters and it started the craze for these hoverboards. Moreover, the name itself creates some interest in the product as it sounds cool to own a Hoverboard!

Are hover boards safe and can you use them everywhere?

Hover boards are safe in the concept and at the drawing board level. These are perfectly safe as they do not race at high speeds or levitate above the ground. They are relatively slow moving machines which can be controlled easily. So, they are perfectly safe for kids. However the in reality, the situation on the ground is that these hover boards have faced many questionable accidents. Moreover, there have been cases of explosion connected with the gadget! The batteries in the scooter are large Lithium ion batteries which might get heated up.

If either the battery or the cooling system is not properly designed, it might lead to leakage of the ions into the other chamber of the battery and cause sudden or rapid discharge of the battery which might result in a visible fire or explosion. It is unavoidable as the Hoverboard gets into impact with the ground and that the battery also gets damaged due to the design.

Other causes for the explosion is the fact that many companies that has manufacturing units in China, hurry up into production without proper testing and quality control of the products. Hence, for the moment these hover boards are not completely safe. These are time bombs ticking to explode. Make sure you buy UL2272 certified hoverboards only to stay safe.

Now, answering the second question is a bit hard. In many countries, there are no concrete laws dealing with these self-powered scooters. In many cities of United States of America it is illegal to use it in the public places as it might cause any mishap or accident. In United Kingdom, the law does not allow usage of any motorized vehicles in the pavement and it also forbids using any unregistered vehicles on the roads.

These hover boards are neither powered by humans nor are they registered with the transport authority. As, a result they cannot be used in public. The only viable way is to ride them within the confines of your personal and private place. So, the market for the hover boards will remain stagnant for some time to come as they are yet to prove their safety and usability in public areas.

Buying a laptop is not an easy task and when it comes to buying a laptop within budget, it is even more tougher. There are multiple checks to be made when it comes to buying a laptop. Moreover, while sifting the market we have to keep and refrain our budget and focus only on our primary requirements.

I know it’s tough to buy the best budget laptop from an already crowded laptop market. That’s why to aid our readers out in buying their new budget laptop, I have picked few of the best budget laptops. All the laptops listed are brought to you after an extensive research and market analysis Although, I have picked the budget laptops ranging in between $100 – $500, I will still recommend you to increase your budget up to 300 dollars and buy the best laptops under $300 for yourself because laptops in 300 dollars price range offer pretty good specifications for the price and are capable enough to handle all the productivity tasks and even light gaming.

On the other hand, we’d recommend you stretch your budget a little high up to $500. Because you don’t end up buying a laptop every other day. Its a one time investment which we believe should be future proof and long-lasting. After all you get a better performance and reliability as a return on investment.

Top 8 best budget laptops

Now, let’s begin with the reviews of best budget laptops. Read reviews of all the laptops to get better insight of each laptop model listed below.

Coming from the house of HP, this modern day laptop is bound to make people rage over it. HP has been the thought leader in IT industry for a long time. World’s most valuable company Apple Inc. acquired inspiration from this very enterprise in its early days. HP 15-F222WM 15.6″ Touch Screen Laptop has everything a contemporary student can dream about or an IT professional will crave for.

This one laptop has a giant screen that facilitates fun filled and entertaining gaming session while the touch screen allows the users to make the most of the gestures. 4GB of RAM and 500GB of HDD are good enough to help professionals store their journals and other important files. Students can also squeeze their movie collection and fit it in. Integrated webcam, microphone, and CD Drive let’s the user have an easy run at office and meetings. Powered by Windows 10, this laptop from HP is good enough for everyone who wants to work, entertain himself or herself and achieve something in life.

With Full HD Display and 1TB disk space, this notebook is set to win hearts. Acer has been working hard on innovation and has tried to deliver the best it can. In recent past, they have served people with some epitome products. Acer Aspire may not be the epitome of their technical capability, but it surely is something that will set people go gaga. Acer Aspire E 15 E5-575- 33BM 15.6-Inch Full HD Notebook seemingly has good specifications, but it is the Intel Core i3 Processor that makes it look small in comparison to the contemporaries.

With 4 GB of RAM, Acer could have done better but it is upgradeable so everything is fine. Up to 12 hours battery life is just another specification that will make people short list this laptop over the others. Professionals are going to have a great time processing their data and files on this reliable and pocket-friendly budget laptop.

Dell has impressed the veterans by serving them with something that is irreplaceable and invincible. Dell’s customer service has always been credited for the rage among the audience but if we look at the machines they design and manufacture then we will have to accredit their engineering as well. This Dell Inspiron laptop is just another marvel they have produced. With 1 TB Disk space and 8GB of RAM, this laptop is all set to conquer the mammoth tasks and run varied gaming applications with great ease.

The 15.6 inches bright Full HD Touchscreen is a combination like never before. When it comes to budget laptops, enterprises have always tried to provide either HD Screen or Touchscreen, but Dell Inspiron Flagship 15.6 inches is a rare combination of HD and Touch Screen. One can use this amazing laptop for being the Nerd and also for entertaining themselves to the core. Card reader, backlit keyboard, CD Drive, Webcam, and microphone are just another features that make this laptop user- friendly and all of this at a pocket-friendly price of just $477.

Small yet durable; flexible yet credible; smart yet affordable; are the few junkets that define Asus Chromebook the best. This laptop has not much of disk space, but the flash storage allows the user to store all the necessary files. The fact that the screen can rotate at an angle of 180 degrees makes it one of the most modern and stylish laptops in the market.

This laptop is bound to conquer the boundaries and leverage people with an experience they have been craving for. 11.6 inches display powered by a battery that can last for 10 hours will entertain people to the core. The 4GB of RAM will facilitate smooth run of movies, huge files and also data processing. The laptop lacks when it comes to processing speed and storage capability. One can never be satisfied with a small flash storage of only 16GB. The device has no CD or DVD drive and has Windows pre- installed on it.

Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 1TB of HDD are the best words to describe this HP Notebook 15-ay011nr 15.6-Inch Laptop. One can always take this laptop into professional competitions and walk out with a trophy in hand. Such amazing specifications for a pocket-friendly budget are just unbelievable for many.

HP Notebook is bound to impact the market share of contemporaries and help its parent company in garnering some new reputation. 2 USB 2.0 Ports and 1 USB 3.0 ports allows the modern day geeks to experiment, enjoy the rational speed and get a lot more done in lesser time. Available in varied colors, this laptop is not just performance oriented but stylish as well. The battery of this laptop can last for 10 hours giving professionals a head start over the others. Start late and yet finishes first. HP Notebook may just becomes the favorite of every student, IT professional or tax associate out there. This is the most reliable and pocket-friendly laptop ever manufactured by HP.

One thing millennial needs to understand is that Chromebooks are not meant for storing a huge collection of movies or games; these laptops are designed to cater a unique experience of computing important data while moving. These Chromebooks were designed to facilitate “Work From Beach” type of lifestyle, but people are down rating these by citing lack of disk space as a negative point.

Acer Chromebook is winning hearts of targeted audience with a compact and sleek design. The 11.6 inches screen serves the purpose very well and also allows people to store up to 16GB of files. 2GB of RAM may be low, but it satisfies the needs of everyone, who understands what Chromebooks are designed for. Any unruly expectation from this laptop is nothing more than an error of judgment. This Acer Chromebook is also the cheapest laptop in this list of reliable and pocket-friendly laptops.

Coming seventh in the list, you should not assume this laptop to be unreliable or expensive; it is very much reliable and pocket-friendly like all the other laptops on this list. Asus F556UA-AB32 is one of its kind and has an impressive 4GB of RAM backed with a processing power of Core i3 processors. The 15.6 inches screen promises great entertainment quotient, no matter where you are.

Powered by Windows 10, this laptop allows people from all facets of life to get the work done with great ease. One can use this laptop for multi-tasking and accomplish their goals within stipulated time. The battery back up is also very impressive, which makes this laptop one of the hottest properties in the market. The innovation from the house of Asus has left the world flabbergasted in recent past, well this laptop is just an addition to the list of awesome tech by Asus.

Intel Core i5 Processor, 8GB of RAM, and Full HD Screen come together in the form of Acer Aspire E 15 to help masses make the most of every opportunity without missing out on the entertainment. The contemporary world is ruled by technology that saves time, helps people do things differently and are reliable; which makes Acer Aspire E 15 the most awesome technological product.

Aspire has certainly changed the game for better with this laptop in place. People from all facets of life can depend upon this laptop for entertainment, getting work done and storing important files securely. 256GB of SSD is something that might disappoint a lot of people, but till the time you can compute data and play games without RAM going err, it is all cool and fun.

Conclusion:

Be it enterprises or individual webmasters, anyone who fails to make the most of latest technology will end up losing their market share. With these reliable and pocket-friendly laptops in the market, people can finally look forward to achieving their dreams without spending thousands. All these laptops are designed with people in mind; some of these serves to the economical class while others serve the elite class. Make your choices wisely.

Christmas is creeping closer and closer every day. Haven’t panicked yet? Now is the time! If you are thinking what are some cool things to get for Christmas this year, then this blog post exactly is for you. And no. I won’t be writing about some random, boring gifts here. I’m going to write about genuinely cool, cheap gadgets and weird, unusual gifts that will leave your friends speechless. Get them one of the following gifts if you wish to be remembered for years to come!

Cool electronics to buy this Christmas

There are a lot of boring gifts out there. Just visit any supermarket during the holiday season to understand what I mean.

According to statista.com some of the most popular gifts in 2013 where gift cards, clothing, electronics, books and money.

And while you too could get your friends something really generic like a pair of socks or maybe a new blanket, wouldn’t it be more fun to come up with something completely unique?

Here’s a list of the coolest stuff I found while browsing NeverTooMuchStuff.com.

Mr. Tea, the Tea Infuser

Mr. Tea is a great gift for tea lovers. From now on they can drink their tea in style with Mr. Tea comfortably leaning back in the tea cup as if it were a hot tub.

Mr. Tea will put you back a measly £3.75 and is quite possibly the cheapest practical gift you can get. Hell, why not get one for everyone?

Behold, the Man Comb

The man comb is perfect for both the beard as well as the hair. As a gift priced under £20, this unique accessory is a must have in every gentleman’s pocket.

But it’s not just a simple comb. It’s also a bottle cap opener! The man comb is a symbol of superiority as well as elegance.

It will be clear to everyone that he means business whenever he whips out this sacred tool.

Salvador Dali’s Melting Clock

“I don’t do drugs. I am drugs.” – those were once the words of Salvador Dali. A man known by his weird, yet stylish mustache and of course by The Persistence Of Memory.

The painting, according to Dawn Ades, symbolizes the relativity of space and time. “A surrealist meditation on the collapse of our notions of a fixed cosmic order“.

If your friend is into surrealism and modern art then you can’t go wrong with the melting clock gift for both home and office. For a mere £7.83 It’s an affordable masterpiece that sits gracefully at the corner of any desk.

Levitating Bluetooth Speaker

Whoa! If you’re looking for cool electronics to buy then consider this levitating speaker that looks like it’s pulled straight out of a sci-fi movie.

With no dirty tricks or gimmicks, this levitating speaker orb floats in mid air and plays all of your favorite tunes thanks to powerful magnets. (insert “magnets, how do they work” meme here).

And just in case you don’t believe me, here’s a video demonstrating exactly how this geek merchandise works.

Starting from just £72, you can get your friend (or you) a futuristic looking gadget that’s practical and actually useful for something. I can guarantee that it will be the centerpiece of the evening.

DreamWave Ocean Wave Projector

Yet another example of epic and cool electronics to buy this Christmas is of course the DreamWave Projector in the unique and cool tech sub-category.

The device projects stunningly beautiful waves on both the ceiling and the walls in a darkened room.

It’s an ideal gift idea for that special stoner friend or anyone else who would enjoy having cool psychedelic light shows right in their living-room.

Starting from £105, it’s definitely not the cheapest of gadgets in my list. However if you truly want to give them something extraordinary then the price should be meaningless.

Be sure to check out this video presentation to see the projector in action.

Levitating Desk Lamp

What? Another levitating gadget? For sure! This levitating desk lamp is the light source of the 21’st century.

The lamp works by floating a magnetic disk that supports the shade on a magnetic field. Both the disk as well as the base contain powerful, opposing magnets.

And thanks to the electromagnetic coils in the base all minor bumps and disturbances are corrected so the lamp doesn’t lose its balance. (Check this video for more info).

Starting at £65.95 plus shipping, the levitating desk lamp is another great example of cool electronics to buy this Christmas. It’s so awesome that you simply can’t go wrong with this. Everyone will fall in love with it. Instantly.

Polaroid Mobile Printer

Does your friend enjoy taking photos? If yes, you could get them this amazing Polaroid printer compatible with most smartphones. Let me explain how it works:

Without any dirty ink cartridges this portable Polaroid printer is capable of printing up to 25 photos before needing a recharge.

It prints your photos on a special kind of zinc photo paper. The printer heats the paper and activates its unique color-forming molecules embedded in the paper’s layers. Voila!

The result is an instant 2×3 inch Polaroid photo the size of about a credit card.

Going for around £100 it’s not the cheapest of gifts in my list (again). However when you consider the sentimental value of a single Polaroid photo, you’ll realize it’s definitely worth it.

It’s essentially a gift for making more gifts! Just think about how your friend will photograph cool stuff and share the physical photos with people closest to them.

The Self-Balancing Scooter, or more widely known as simply the hoverboard, has quickly become one of the most popular toy-gadgets for both kids and adults alike. It’s fun, promotes outdoor activities and is an excellent alternative for public transport in the city. However with hundreds of seemingly identical hoverboards for sale on the internet, how can we be sure that ours is indeed safe?

In this article I will explain why most hoverboards have exploded so far as well as share a couple of tips and tricks on how to avoid buying a potentially dangerous hoverboard for yourself or your family.

Why do so many hoverboards explode?

Ever since hoverboards caught the attention of mainstream media, there have been countless of reports of hoverboards either exploding or catching fire.

While most of the time these faulty self balancing scooters have ended up causing just minor damage to people’s homes, there have been some, more extreme cases where people have gotten seriously hurt because of these expensive toys.

So what’s the deal? Why are these things so prone to spontaneously combust?

A faulty battery

When a piece of technology becomes popular enough, other, smaller companies will eventually build cheaper knockoff versions of said product in order to make a quick profit from the hype.

However the lower price isn’t an act of kindness on their behalf. Nope! The low price comes from using lower quality parts within the gadget itself and the vast majority of exploding hoverboards have had a bad battery stuffed inside of them.

How Lithium-Ion batteries work?

Generally speaking, all Lithium-Ion batteries work the same way.

When you charge the battery, the positive electrode (cathode) gives up some of its Lithium Ions to the negative (anode) and when it’s discharging (when in use) the Ions move back to the positive electrode.

The ions move through the separator between a cathode and anode and its purpose is to keep the two electrodes apart to prevent electrical short circuits.

Low quality batteries can cause short circuits

In cheaper batteries the separator could be misaligned or it may have small micro holes due to the impurities of the materials and therefore electrical short circuits can occur.

When this happens a lot of heat is generated inside the battery cell which leads to electrolyte boiling, the rupture of the cell casing and eventually (surprise surprise) a fire.

How to avoid buying a bad hoverboard?

Unfortunately there is no sure way of telling whether a board will explode or not because you have to actually use the device for a little while in order to “wear out” the battery.

That said, there are still a couple of things you can consider:

It’s a good idea to choose a reputable manufacturer who isn’t trying to hide the source of their batteries.

Another recommendation is to avoid anything that costs less than at least a couple of hundred bucks.

While you don’t necessarily need the IO Hawk that goes for more than a thousand dollars (unless you’re a show-off), you should still avoid cheap Chinese replicas that sell for just $100 on ebay, for example.

From my own research I can say that $300-$500 seems to be a reasonable price range for a safe hoverboard scooter.

*HoverBoardScooters.net is a reputable source for various self balancing scooters and hoverboard accessories. Their office is located in California and you can ask for more information simply by dialing this number: (323) 617-3657

Imagine for a moment that you have just organized a small get-together among your close friends. Most of them have already arrived and taken their rightful positions around the living room table where you had previously placed your shiny new hookah and enough drinking glasses for everyone.

The drinks

You have the bar ready a little further away, near the wall, on which you have a small collection of middle-class beverages like Jack Daniels, a bottle of definitely-not-the-cheapest red wine and a couple of other no-name bottles just to make the set seem complete. It’s perfect!

The snacks

A bowl filled with pistachios, a few bags of potato chips, some cookies and a massive jug of orange juice for those who don’t like to drink, drove over with a car or just enjoy mixing it with some good ol’ vodka- everything has been accounted for. You have taken extra care to strategically place all of these items in a way that makes them easy to access from every direction and the huge ass wall-mirror helps to finish the illusion of having just enough room for everyone in your tiny apartment.

The chillin’

The lights have been dimmed, your favorite song is playing on the stereo and everybody seems to be having a rather good time. But just as you’re about to congratulate yourself on a job well done someone opens their mouth and drops the bomb by asking: “Hey man, do you have any ice?”

Man, you forgot the ice!

Damn it! The ice. How could you forget the ice?! Not a problem. You stay calm, put on your poker face and tell your friends that ice shall be served in exactly 8 minutes. You stand up, manage to gracefully catch the hookah that you accidentally knocked over in the process and as you advance towards the kitchen door, you confidently tell your friends: “set your timers everyone, I will be back!”

Best home ice maker machine

Since everyone knows that it will normally take at least a couple of hours for the water to freeze into those small cubes that you put in your drink, nobody really understands what’s going on when you pull “8 minutes” seemingly out of nowhere.

Naturally they’re curious and follow you to the kitchen to make sure you haven’t completely lost your mind and that’s where they’ll see the elegant beast in action for the first time in their lives.

After a brief moment of silence and awe, one of the more courageous observers suddenly points at the mysterious device and gasps: “What is THAT?!”

And as your home ice maker slowly freezes yet another batch of cool ice cylinders (no pun intended) you take on a more serious and professional tone to say: “That, my friend, is of course the TG22, a state of the art portable ice maker machine”.

Portable ice maker

From the see-through window at the top of the lid you get to see the ice maker freeze the water first and then push the final result in the form of small ice cylinders onto a holding tray. From there it will continue creating the next batch of ice.

All in all it takes roughly 6-8 minutes for a single batch to complete which means that in total you can expect to generate up to 26 pounds of ice every day.

It’s a completely automated and self contained system and it will recycle the excess water that is dripping down the metal rods around which the ice will form, making sure that all of the precious H2O is being used up and not discarded recklessly.

You can even set it to generate small, medium or large pieces of ice and there’s no extra plumbing required. Just stick it in the wall socket, add water and you’re all set.

The TG22 is a residential ice maker and yet another perfect example of how our every day lives can be just a little bit easier thanks to automated machines.

A mechanical keyboard is a type of keyboard that uses mechanical switches under each of its keys instead of the wide spread rubber membrane most of us are familiar with today. If you happened to work with computers back in the 80’s and early 90’s you may remember the feeling of typing on a mechanical keyboard as it makes a certain satisfying clicking sound as you type and each key press just feels a lot more “solid” in general.

A mechanical keyboard is also considered to last much longer and while debatable, it can also increase your typing speed. In fact many professional typists prefer using a mechanical keyboard because it is much more efficient and your hands won’t grow tired of typing for hours at a time.

Best gaming mechanical keyboard?

When you compare the different mechanical keyboard reviews on the internet, you’ll notice that almost all of them recommend a mechanical keyboard with either the linear red switch type or better yet the keyboards that come with tactile feedback switch type.

Tactile switch keyboards are considered to be a good middle ground for both gaming and typing because of their low actuation point (the point where the keystroke is registered) meaning that less force is needed to be applied on each key and because they’re not as loud as clicky switch keyboards that can annoy your co-workers or friends at a LAN party.

Different switch types

Regardless of the make and model of a mechanical keyboard, the switch types can be separated into three main categories:

Linear switches are the simplest of the three switch types and come without the additional tactile feedback or clicking sound. Linear switches can be separated into two additional sub-categories: black and red.

The black switches with their medium to high actuation force aren’t considered very good for typing due to their high weighting, but can become useful when playing certain video games in order to prevent accidental key presses.

A red switch keyboard on the other hand is considered to be a much better choice for gaming because of its low actuation point resulting in a much more lightweight typing experience. It’s worth noting that you will also experience less fatigue using a red switch keyboard compared to the black switches.

Tactile switches are, as the name suggests, mechanical keyboard switches that give you an additional tactile feedback in the form of a rather noticeable “bump” as you press down a key. The bump lets your brain know that the key press has in fact been registered and that you can let go of the key.

You might not notice a difference at first especially if you are used to pressing a key all the way down while typing, but over time you’ll learn to apply less force on the keyboard keys which can increase your overall typing speed and is essential in video games where your Actions Per Minute is crucial for winning a match.

Clicky switches are tactile switches known for their extra clicking sound and favored mostly by transcribers and people who have to type for longer periods of time. The clicky switch keyboards aren’t considered to be very good for gaming because of their relatively high weighting.

Things to consider

Most mechanical keyboards are much louder than the average rubber membrane keyboards because a mechanical keyboard has, under each key, a separate switch for that particular key so if your workplace has other people in close proximity, a mechanical keyboard will most likely be extremely annoying to your co-workers.

A mechanical keyboard is not meant to be portable and you’ll notice it immediately when you unbox one because it’s way heavier than your average keyboard weighing around 3 pounds or so. A heavy keyboard with decent rubber pads on the bottom works perfectly on a desk since it won’t move around that easily, but if you’re planning on taking it with you on a field trip, it’s going to be more of a nuisance.

Test it before you buy it

Since reading articles and reviews about the different switch types of mechanical keyboards can only do so much, it’s advised to test out the different switch types using a mechanical keyboard switch tester to figure out which one works best for you.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock these past few months, chances are that you’ve heard about the Lexus hoverboard that supposedly lets you glide around like Marty McFly from Back to the future 2. What you may not know, however, is the fact that it isn’t a real hoverboard. Yes, it hovers in mid air and it is a board, but in order to ride it you need a special kind of track filled with magnets and you need to refill it with liquid nitrogen every 10 minutes. A process which takes roughly 10-15 minutes to begin with.

On top of that it’s incredibly difficult to ride. So difficult, in fact, that it took a professional skater Ross Mcgouran, who has been skating for about two decades, six months to ride the hoverboard well enough to shoot for the commercial. It basically feels like you’re walking a tightrope or “an invisible air rail” as Ross describes it.

It’s just not practical

I hope I didn’t ruin your childhood dreams just now, but as far as we know, there isn’t a real and practical hoverboard out there just yet.

Sure, there are a few startups here and there who are either working with hovering technology powered by magnets or something along the lines of huge drones, but if you want to take a ride on something as rad as the gravity defying pink hoverboard featured in Back to The Future 2 right now, it’s just not going to happen. Sorry.

What about that awkward “mini Segway”?

For quite a while now various companies have been taking advantage of the hoverboard craze and misleading us by labeling a miniature version of the Segway with no handlebars as a “hoverboard” when in fact it doesn’t hover at all and you have to be rather messed up in the head for it to resemble anything remotely board-like.

They are also known for spontaneous combustion, exploding and they’re definitely not as safe in terms of balancing as the classic four wheeled skateboard is. Still, it’s more than possible to learn to ride one and once you do, chances are you’ll become very good. Some have even said it’s like riding a bike.

Glidecraft hoverboard S600

All this aside, you can now buy a hoverboard from Glidecraft, a New Jersey based startup, who seems to be on the right track with their latest model, the S600.

Unlike its predecessors, the S600 features just one wheel in the center of what appears to be a rather futuristic looking skateboard and when I first saw the video where people rode the thing, at certain angles it truly looked as if the skater was hovering in mid air because you couldn’t see the wheel. The cool LED light show that surrounds the board also helps to make the illusion complete, especially at night.

With a top speed at around 10 miles per hour, it can ride up a slope without problems thanks to its powerful electric motor and certified Lithium Ion batteries that last approximately 3 hours before needing to be recharged.

Because of its self balancing features and the fact that you can stand on it as you would stand on a normal skateboard, a position which by the way is a lot safer, the chances of falling on your ass are greatly diminished unlike with the “mini Segway” where you stand horizontally on top of a two wheeler with its center of gravity working against you.

What Disney turned into a video game some time ago, you can own in real life. The all new one wheel skateboard is probably the closest thing you will get to levitating in air. Since the wheel is in the center, when you are riding this new one wheel hoverboard to everyone, it looks like you are suspended in air. Since most video gamers are not the biggest workout enthusiast, they made moving on this new hover skateboard easier than any classic 4 wheel skateboard around.

When you turn it on, it assists you on your balance which from what I know its the only one of its kind. Every other skateboard takes weeks, maybe months to learn not to hurt yourself, but this new Glidecraft model it takes literally minutes and then it rides like you were born to be on one.

The reason the S600 is the ultimate must have for any gamer is because it gets you to go outside! These boards are so much fun that going out just became way more attractive. Because many people will think that hoverboards don’t give you much of a workout, we have included this hoverboard workout video from youtube. Even though you are not walking, you still get quite the workout just from standing and balancing on one, especially if you take it outside on pavement.

The most important part is that you are having loads of fun while riding. These new skateboards gave me more satisfaction than most of the games I’ve played so far!

This new Hover skateboard looks way better than the original hoverboards for sale and they go just as fast, 10-12 miles per hour. They are lighter in weight, there is a handle to hold it. They feel way more durable.

If you put your feet close together you can actually jump up a curb with one, which I felt the regular two wheel hoverboards were missing. At first the $550.00 retail looked a little scary, but when looking at the price of most electric longboards and other electric scooters and comparing it to the workmanship of this unit, its well worth it.

When I first moved in my apartment 5 years ago, the owner had just renovated it and like many other “modern” kitchens, ours too had to have a total of ten GU10 halogen light bulbs spread across the entire ceiling. Definitely overkill for a small room and It was bright as hell, but honestly I kinda liked it. What I didn’t like, however, was the monthly electricity bill and so I took most of the halogens out of their sockets, leaving a total of seven awkward holes in the ceiling. The lonely trio that remained still managed to illuminate the entire room- that’s how bright they were.

Replacing GU10 halogens with LED’s

By pulling out most of the unnecessary halogen light bulbs I effectively managed to cut my electricity cost by around 60%. I’m still not entirely sure why the owner needed to use so many light bulbs when you could do just as fine with only three. Maybe he just liked bright hospital-like rooms?

Whatever his “problem” was, I had one too- those damn awkward holes! They didn’t bother me that much, but I grew tired of stupid remarks ie.”are you a vampire?” or “how broke are you?” every time someone would come over.

That’s when I first learned about the GU10 dimmable LED‘s and I was shocked to realize just how much more energy efficient, not to mention cheap they were compared to their halogen counterparts. Many people online claim to have reduced their electricity bill by up to 80% simply by replacing all of their halogens with LED’s.

I knew then and there that this was the way of the future and my “hole problem” would be swiftly taken care of once and for all.

GU10 halogens VS their LED counterpart

Here’s a quick bullet point overview on why the LED’s are superior compared to the halogen version:

Depending on where you’re buying them, they usually cost half the price of halogen light bulbs.

They consume much less energy for the same light output and therefore you can reduce your utility bill by up to 80%.

Under normal conditions the LED’s have up to 20 times longer life span compared to old halogen light bulbs.

It’s clear that you will save money both from using less energy for the same amount of brightness and because the LED’s usually live way longer, you have to buy them less frequently and even if one eventually wears out, they go for way cheaper than their halogen analogs.

Choosing the correct wattage

Choosing the correct wattage to replace your old halogen bulbs is actually pretty easy because all the information you need is usually written right there on the box.

For example if your old halogen bulb has 35W written on it, you should look for a LED that says 4-35W on the box.

In layman terms it means: This is a 4W LED light bulb meant to replace a 35W halogen.

Color and beam angle

The two other variables you need to consider are the color of your LED light and it’s beam angle. There are commonly three different colors available: 827 (warm light) used in most households, 830 (warm white light) often used in restaurants and hotels, and finally 840 (cold white) often used in offices or supermarkets. For a cozy atmosphere I definitely recommend 827 – warm light.

The beam angle is another variable that changes from bulb to bulb. For a regular household, I’d go for the widest possible angle you can find because this way more of your room gets illuminated. On the other hand if you want to enhance a certain object like a painting or a statue, then it would make sense to put a light with a narrow beam angle above it.

Generally you can choose from 25 to 60 degree beam angles and the most commonly used GU10 light bulbs have a beam angle of 40 degrees.

Is it dimmable?

If you happen to have a light dimming switch integrated in your system, you definitely have to double check the box of the LED bulb because not all LED light bulbs are dimmable. Fortunately they’ve made it easy for us by simply adding the letter D in the name. For example: D 4-35W. And if you look closely, you’ll probably find the word “dimmable” somewhere on the package as well.

Conclusion

As you can see there is really no reason why you shouldn’t replace those old halogens with a new and more energy efficient technology. You’ll benefit from a cheaper price, a much longer lifespan and most importantly a significantly reduced electricity bill. On top of that, the GU10 LED’s have a voltage of 230 which means you can simply plug them into your regular sockets and start using them immediately.

The PlayStation 4 media player supports various movies and videos encoded in popular formats like MKV, AVI, MP4 and MPEG2. On top of that Sony recently released a new software update which gives you the ability to playback videos and music as well as view photos straight from your USB stick. While these great features make the sought after gaming console a very capable and practical media center for home use, it comes with just one small snag- the controller.

Don’t get me wrong, the PS4 controller is perfect for gaming, but if you have ever used it to browse through the menus, you’ll know what I’m talking about. The PlayStation 4 controller just isn’t designed for navigating between various streaming services and controlling video playback. Fortunately for us a guy from Austin, TX has just built a device which will make our lives a lot easier.

PlayStation 4 Remote Control

There are many different universal remote controllers available on the market which allow you to control almost any device that uses infrared technology (IR). Unfortunately PlayStation 4 uses Bluetooth so you can’t use an old universal remote as your PS4 remote controller.

It’s true that you can find some unofficial PS4 remotes on the internet today that sort of work, but aren’t really doing the job very well as you can’t power on your PlayStation 4 console directly from the remote itself. Quite an annoyance if you’re after a more serious PS4 media remote controller.

PS4 Universal Remote

This is where Umotia, the device I mentioned earlier, comes into play! It’s a fairly simple yet ingenious gadget built by Norman James that allows you to use virtually any universal remote controller to control your PlayStation 4 console through the HDMI Device Link feature.

Simply enable the HDMI Device Link feature in your PlayStation 4 settings, connect three cables and voila- you can now use any old universal tv controller as a fully functioning PS4 remote control.

Back the Umotia on Kickstarter

The beta version of Umotia is already out and will set you back just $25, but since it’s a Kickstarter campaign, you can get all sorts of goodies if you back the project with a little more buck. What I’m personally interested in is the ability to write your own software for Umotia and the developer is happy to provide you with everything you need if you back his project with at least $500. As a bonus you’ll receive a second, final version of the device, free of charge once the project goes mainstream.